Suggested Books: Stalking

If you are being stalked, or if you are concerned about someone who is the target of this potentially very dangerous crime, safety should be at the top of your priority list. Being the target of an obsessed person is a frightening experience. But it isn't necessary to live in fear. Learning how to be safe is the key.

This book explains what stalking is, how to keep it from overwhelming your life, what is known about evaluating a stalker's potential to turn violent, and how to keep the situation from becoming worse, while being ready for anything. Using scenarios based on real stalking cases, this book overflows with detailed, practical strategies to put you in control of your life, and let you break the cycle of terror.

About the author:

Lyn Bates is a founder and vice president of the non-profit AWARE, an organization devoted to teaching women to protect themselves from stalking and lethal assault. An award-winning expert on anti-stalking defensive strategies, she has helped thousands of people to avoid potential dangers and, when necessary, protect themselves with defensive weapons from pepper spray to firearms.

This book is intended for advanced students, practioners, and researchers in clinical psychology, psychiatry, and personality psychology, and to practioners and policy makers in policing and criminal justice. It is a comprehensive international survey of what is known about stalking and psychosexual harassment. Topics include violence, risk assessment, case management, and aspects of therapeutic intervention for both stalking offenders and their victims.

About the editors:

Drs. Boon and Sheridan are forensic psychologists at the University of Leicester, in the United Kingdom.

Exit the Game: For a Stalker-Free Life, Jane Davenport

"Cat and Mouse" is a dangerous game played between a stalker and the victim - a game in which the victim can spend years living a lifestyle of reaction to every move the stalker makes. But there is a way to exit the game, by changing your identity, completely, legally, and safely. This short, focused, how-to book was written by someone who successfully did just that.

About the author:

Jane Davenport is a native of Texas with B.A. degree in Sociology. She served on a mayor's committee against domestic violence on the board of directors for a women's shelter. She is the former victim of stalker.

Stalking Crimes and Victim Protection, edited by Joseph A. Davis

From an Amazon reader review:Overall, this book is an excellent resource and handbook for any agency or professional who is actively working cases and providing direct services to targeted victims of this crime.

About the author:

Joseph H. Davis, PhD, is a nationally recognized expert in the field of public safety psychology, with a background in both psychology and law.

From an Amazon reader review:This book provides the latest in scholarship on the clinical and legal literature on stalkers. Professionals who help stalking victims will value this book for its thorough coverage of victimization issues and perpetrator issues.

ntended as a text in sociology, women's studies, or criminology, this book explores the experiences of stalking victims and the ways in which we socially construct and confer meaning on intimate violence. The author details the kinds of actions women take in an attempt to control stalking, and how those actions may backfire when the criminal justice system becomes involved.

About the author:

Jennifer Dunn is a sociologist.

The Criminalisation of Stalking: Constructing the Problem and Evaluating the Solution, Emily Finch

This book is intended for lawyers and other professionals who deal with stalkiing victims. It describes the background of stalking laws in England, and analyzes their utility.

This book has two objectives. First, to provide a comprehensive account of the process by which stalking came to be regarded as a significant social problem which merited legal intervention and a thorough evaluation of the efficacy of that response. Secondly, to situate this within a wider theoretical context which addresses the role of the criminal law in dealing with social problems and the boundaries of criminalisation. This illustrates how a detailed consideration of a particular issue can inform a wider debate and provide a unique perspective on existing theoretical material.

About the author:

Emily Finch is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Reading and Associate Lecturer fo the Open University.

Boy Gets Girl, by Rebecca Gilman

Though fictional, this work touches on many of the practical and emotional aspects of being stalked. A provocative and unsettling play.

Theresa Bedell, a New York reporter, goes on a blind date and is drawn into a stalker's web. One critic says, "brilliantly delineating the kind of terror a woman in full control of her life feels when everything around her suddenly seems to be a threat."

Surviving a Stalker, Linden Gross

Most people believe that stalkers only target the rich and famous, not the average citizen. The truth is, stalking is one of the most prevalent yet overlooked forms of domestic violence in America today, with an estimated 1.4 million people nationwide stalked each year. And that figure does not even include the rising number of people being harassed on the Internet.

Surviving a Stalker, the ultimate practical guidebook to surviving stalking, provides all the necessary tools you need to handle obsessive attention and to regain control of your life. Journalist and stalking expert Linden Gross offers a wealth of invaluable guidance, including: How to recognize and control those natural reactions that might put you at risk; How to handle inappropriate attention on- and off-line and break the stalking cycle; How to protect your privacy and safety as well as that of your loved ones.

Gross explains how these dangerous obsessions begin, the patterns they take, and what potential victims can do before the nightmare becomes a reality. Through a multitude of case studies, medical and other professionals who deal with stalking will gain a clearer understanding of the crime, the toll it takes, and how to handle it. Surviving a Stalker will help all victims, as well as potential victims, keep themselves safe and be a vital resource for all professionals who counsel them.

Every Breath You Take: Stalking Narratives and the Law, Orit Kamir

Every Breath You Take is a scholarly study that presents an engrossing examination of male and female stalkers in history, literature, and film, and their relationship to contemporary legislation against stalking. The book reveals how these stories have facilitated "moral panics" that have fueled the persecution of stalkers.

About the author:

Orit Kamir is on the faculty of Law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has taught at the University of Michigan.

Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked, James Lasdun

This is a very personal story by a man who has been the victim of a woman who stalks him for years. The power of this woman, whose admiration turned ugly, is shown in her attempts to ruin his professional and personal reputations, mostly with Internet postings. The author is a writer of unusual talent who makes this book far more interesting and readable than most.

How to be Invisible, J. J. Luna

The subtitle of this book is: a step-by-step guide to protecting your assets, your identity, and your life and it delivers on that promise. Though written primarily for people who want to protect their assets by keeping a very, very low public profile, this book has lots to offer stalking victims. It gives detailed information on how to establish a "ghost address" that is completely separate from where you actually live. Other topics include home deliveries, house calls, FedEx, UPS, untraceable trash, anonymous utilities, and using corporations to protect one's privacy.

About the author:

J. J. Luna is the pseudonym of a highly trained and experienced security consultant.

The Stalking of Kristen: A Father Investigates the Murder of His Daughter, George Lardner, Jr.

"This is Kristin's story. I'd give anything not to have written it." Kristin Lardner's father won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of Washington Post articles about this promising young art student who was killed by a jealous ex-boyfriend. In this expanded book version he makes the important point that Kristin did everything right. She was educated and sophisticated, and had the time and resources to make the law work for her. And she was a member of the class of people who believe the law when it promises to protect them. With a parent's rage, and an impressive command of the facts and statistics, George Lardner refutes the widespread belief that the courts offer effective protection to battered women who do report their abusers and press charges. The book includes photos of Kristin's artwork about abuse of women and 80 pages of footnotes and bibliography about the legal system.

About the author:

George Lardner, Jr, is an investigative reporter for the Washington Post. The articles he wrote for the Post about the murder of his daughter, on which this book is based, were awarded a Pulitzer prize in 1993. He has also covered such stories as Watergate, Chappaquidick, the Kennedy assassinations, Iran-Contra, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the Unibomber case.

The Bogeyman, Stalking and Its Aftermath, Dr. Sherry L. Meinberg

This book presents the author's personal history as it pertains to stalking experineces and related information. She honed her survival skills long before any research, facts, and figures were available, and before the crime of stalking was coined. She learned everything the hard way - without books, advice, or professionals to guide her - through firsthand experience alone. Along with her personal saga, the book presents addded material, listing expert opinions, information and resources.

About the author:

Sherry L. Meinberg, Ed.D. has the unfortunate distinction of being the person in the United States who has been stalked for the longest time: 40 years as of the writing of this book.

This book presents safety information in simple To-Do checklists so you can help yourself keep safe.

About the author:

Sherry L. Meinberg, Ed.D. has the unfortunate distinction of being the person in the United States who has been stalked for the longest time: 40 years as of the writing of this book.

The Psychology of Stalking, edited by J. Reid Meloy

The Psychology of Stalking is the first scholarly book on stalking ever published. Virtually every serious writer and researcher in this area of criminal psychopathology has contributed to this comprehensive resource. These chapters explore stalking from social, psychiatric, psychological, legal, and behavioral perspectives. New thinking and data are presented on threats, pursuit characteristics, psychiatric diagnoses, offender-victim typologies, cyberstalking, false victimization syndrome, erotomania, stalking and domestic violence, stalking of public figures, and many other aspects of stalking. This landmark text is of interest to both professionals and other thoughtful individuals who recognize the serious nature of this ominous social behavior at the end of the millennium.

About the Author:

Dr. Reid Meloy is a diplomate in forensic psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He was Chief of the Forensic Mental Health Division for San Diego County, and now devotes his time to a private civil and criminal forensic practice, research, writing, and teaching. He is an associate clinical professor University of San Diego School of Law. He is also a Fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment, and is currently President of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology. In 1992 he received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award from the California Psychological Association. Dr. Meloy has authored or co-authored over 100 papers published in peer-reviewed psychiatric and psychological journals, and has written or edited four books. He is a sought after speaker and psychological consultant on various civil and criminal cases throughout the United States, most recently the Madonna stalking case and the Polly Klaas murder case. In 1997, he completed work as the forensic psychologist for the prosecution in United States vs. Timothy McVeigh and the United States vs. Terry Nichols.

This book provides an overview of risk assessment, with a good balance of actuarial data and clinical wisdom. It covers two decades of extensive research into the assessment of violent behavior (including, but not limited to, stalking). For clinicians and graduate students.

About the Author:

Dr. Reid Meloy is a diplomate in forensic psychology of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He was Chief of the Forensic Mental Health Division for San Diego County, and now devotes his time to a private civil and criminal forensic practice, research, writing, and teaching. He is an associate clinical professor University of San Diego School of Law. He is also a Fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment, and is currently President of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology. In 1992 he received the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession Award from the California Psychological Association. Dr. Meloy has authored or co-authored over 100 papers published in peer-reviewed psychiatric and psychological journals, and has written or edited four books. He is a sought after speaker and psychological consultant on various civil and criminal cases throughout the United States, most recently the Madonna stalking case and the Polly Klaas murder case. In 1997, he completed work as the forensic psychologist for the prosecution in United States vs. Timothy McVeigh and the United States vs. Terry Nichols.

Stalking and Violence, New Patterns of Trauma and Obsession, Stephen J. Morewitz

Intended for professionals who work with stalking victims, this book offers a review of the literature on stalking and its impact, as well as a report of the author's own Stalking and Violence Project. Topics include cyberstalking, characteristics of victims and offenders, responses to stalking, use of the courts, police intervention, and treatment and incarceration.

Discusses stalking as an issue of public, legal, and scientific concern, impact on victims, association of stalking with physical and sexual assault, international anti-stalking laws, support and practical advice for victims, and assessing and managing the stalker. Includes case studies. For clinicians and graduate students.

In September 1989, Doreen Orion was just beginning her psychiatric practice when one of her female patients developed an erotomanic obsession with her. Over the next eight years, this patient skulked outside of Orion's house and at her workplace, leaving bizarre messages, watching her, and making her unwelcome presence known in virtually every aspect of her life. In I Know You Really Love Me, Orion recounts her legal and emotional struggles as she tried to take control of the situation.

As a psychiatrist, Orion has fascinating insights into the condition that causes some people to obsess inappropriately over others. She also describes compellingly the feelings of helplessness and fear that stalking causes its victims--but always with the compassion and understanding of someone who works with the mentally ill. Her unique perspective as both a victim and a professional makes I Know You Really Love Me not just a blow-by-blow account of a stalking, but a practical guide to understanding, avoiding, and discouraging stalkers. --Lisa Higgins

Surviving Stalking, Michele Pathe

This book is a practical and comprehensive survival manual for victims of stalking and related crimes. It offers sound, realistic, practical advice to victims and also gives guidance through each stage of the criminal justice processes in America, Britain, and Australia. It will be of interest to the health, law enforcement and legal professionals who work with stalker and their victims.

About the author:

Michele Pathe is Consultant Forensic Psyhchiatrist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, Brunswick, where she has been treating stalkers in the world's first clinical outreach program since the early 1990s.

How to Stop a Stalker, Detective Mike Proctor

This indispensable handbook will give stalking victims the means to protect themselves, and also to help put the stalker behind bars. It explains the who, what, where, why, and how of stalking and teaches victims what to do, from simple home security measures to actual prosecution. Many examples are taken from actual cases, and will be of great use to current or potential stalking victims, victim advocates, law enforcement officials, personnel departments, and employers.

New Name, New Life: A Guide to Relocation and Legal Identity Change, Betsy Ramsey

Available on BetseyRamsey.com, this is a detailed guide to help you decide whether to make these changes in your life, and, if so, exactly how to go through that process, and how to protect your new identity. Targets have built a new life successfullty, and have not been found. You can, too! This very useful booklet was written by the Executive Director of an agency that assists victims of domestic violence.

Stalked! Breaking the Silence on the Crime of Stalking in America, Melita Schaum and Karen Parrish

For thousands of women, and a smaller but equally victimized number of men, stalking is a potentially deadly reality -- while the options to counter the crime have been limiting and confusing. Stalkers harass celebrities, politicians, and ordinary citizens - no one is exempt. Now, for the first time, here is a comprehensive resource that gives everyone practical strategies to take action against this crime.

How to Lose Anyone Anywhere, Michael Scott

This manual was written to assist people in taking legal, adequate measures to insure their privacy, and obtaining freedom from individuals who may be disrupting their lives. It is primarily written to assist victims of stalking.

Topics include the mind of the stalker, examining his thinking, motives and tactics, basic countermeasures to assist one in bringing to an end this unwanted intrusion, and dealing with the hard core stalker. Google the title to find out how to order this book.

Everywhere That Mary Went, Lisa Scottoline

There isn't much room in this book selection for fiction, though novels about stalking abound. This one is an exception. Well plotted and superbly written, this novel captures the emotional impact of being stalked, from initial denial to understanding.

Mary DiNunzio has been slaving away for the past eight years trying to make partner in her cutthroat Philadelphia law firm. She's too busy to worry about the crank phone calls that she's been getting--until they fall into a sinister pattern. The phone rings as soon as she gets to work, then as soon as she gets home. Mary can't shake the sensation that someone is watching her. Following her every move. The shadowboxing turns deadly when her worst fears are realized, and she has to fight for something a lot more important than her partnership. Her life.

Stalking: A Handbook for Victims, Emily Spence-Diehl

When one has been the victim of stalking there are special needs to be met. If a stalker has begun to rob you of your sense of control over life, you may be overwhelmed and unsure of where to turn next. When arrived with resources, choices, safety tips, and stalker information you will be able to turn the tide against the stalker and regain some power over your life.

The book presents options not directions. It is a handbook not an instruction manual. There is no "one size fits all" approach to stalking intervention. Thus, options and resources are provided. Stalking laws across the nation are less than a decade old. Victims already know that most communities are not prepared to deal with the ongoing and unpredictable nature of stalking. It is critical to know the full range of your rights and options.

Stalked!: What You Can Do about It, Tino Struckman

The mission of this book is to show how women can better protect themselves from problems that arise in harmful relationships, bad break-ups and being harassed or stalked. It includes some simple suggestions that can be tried immediately at no great effort or cost. Not everything in here is for everybody, it depends on the situation. Proceeds of sales will go to charity.